Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Dropbox is a venture-backed Silicon Valley startup, founded in 2006, that provides online storage and backup services to millions of customers using a "freemium" (free + premium offers) business model. The case recounts Dropbox's history from conception through mid-2010, when founder/CEO Drew Houston must make strategic decisions about new product features, how to target enterprise customers, and whether to pursue distribution deals with smartphone manufacturers.

learning objective:

Illustrate the application of "lean startup" management practices, including reliance on a "minimum viable product" and A/B testing to optimize product design and marketing strategy.

Length:

Also Available in:

description

This case describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. It reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo!, Microsoft, and others. It also asks what Google should do next. One option is to stay focused on the company's core competence, i.e., developing superior search solutions and monetizing them through targeted advertising. Another option is to branch into new arenas; for example, build Google into a portal like Yahoo! or MSN; extend Google's role in e-commerce beyond search, to encompass a more active role as an intermediary (like eBay) facilitating transactions; or challenge Microsoft's position on the PC desktop by developing software to compete with Office and Windows.

learning objective:

To analyze the strategic significance of network effects in search-related advertising and for Google's prospects in the portal, e-commerce intermediary, and desktop operating system businesses. Also, to explore whether pursuit of the latter opportunities is consistent with Google's mission and culture.

Also Available in:

description

As Facebook topped one billion monthly users in October 2012, the online social network continued to face questions about how best to monetize its surging traffic. The company could invest further in new advertising products, which represented the majority of the revenue thus far, or concentrate on the Facebook Platform and help third-party developers create and distribute their own applications. After a highly anticipated yet largely disappointing initial public offering (IPO), Facebook's stock price steadily declined. It became critical for the Facebook team to identify sustainable growth opportunities, particularly as more of its user base accessed the site via mobile devices.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading.

If you listed the blockbuster products and services that have redefined the global business landscape, you'd find that many of them tie together two distinct groups of users in a network. Case in point: The most important innovation in financial services since World War II is almost certainly the credit card, which links consumers and merchants. The list would also include newspapers, HMOs, and computer operating systems--all of which serve what economists call two-sided markets, or networks. Newspapers, for instance, bring together subscribers and advertisers; HMOs link patients to a web of health care providers and vice versa; operating systems connect computer users and application developers. Two-sided networks differ from traditional value chains in a fundamental way. In the traditional system, value moves from left to right: To the left of the company is cost; to the right is revenue. In two-sided networks, cost and revenue are both to the left and to the right, because the "platform" has a distinct group of users on each side. The platform product or service incurs costs in serving both groups and can collect revenue from each, although one side is often subsidized. Because of what economists call "network effects," these platform products enjoy increasing returns to scale, which explains their extraordinary impact. Yet most firms still struggle to establish and sustain their platforms. Their failures are rooted in a common mistake: In creating strategies for two-sided networks, managers typically rely on assumptions and paradigms that apply to products without network effects. As a result, they make many decisions that are wholly inappropriate for the economics of their industries. In this article, the authors draw on recent theoretical work to guide executives negotiating the challenges of two-sided networks.

learning objective:

To see how companies can compete by offering products and services that tie two groups of users together (for example, search engines that link Web surfers and advertisers).

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to Yahoo, Microsoft, and others. Asks what Google should do next.

learning objective:

To analyze the strategic significance of network effects in search-related advertising and for Google's prospects in the portal, e-commerce intermediary, and desktop operating system businesses. Also, to explore whether pursuit of the latter opportunities is consistent with Google's mission and culture.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to selected competitors. Asks what Google should do next.

learning objective:

To analyze the strategic significance of network effects in search-related advertising and for Google's prospects in the portal, e-commerce intermediary, and desktop operating system businesses. Also, to explore whether pursuit of the latter opportunities is consistent with Google's mission and culture.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Two months after a successful launch In November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round of venture capital sooner than originally planned. Raising more venture capital would allow RTR to aggressively expand its inventory and customer acquisition efforts, in order serve a broader range of customer segments with a wider selection of products, (e.g., accessories, maternity wear).

learning objective:

Illustrate "lean startup" principles, including the use of "minimum viable products" to conduct quick and inexpensive but rigorous tests to validate business model hypotheses.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

Entrepreneur Eric Ries coined the term "lean start-up" to describe organizations that follow the principles of hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs in these startups translate their vision into business model hypotheses, then test the hypotheses using a series of "minimum viable products," each of which represents the smallest set of features or activities needed to validate a concept. Founders of a lean start-up also know that time counts among their scarcest resources. Put simply: speed matters. Like lean manufacturing, the lean start-up method accelerates the tempo of innovation by using rapid iteration, small batches, and short cycle times. "Experimenting in the Entrepreneurial Venture" begins by contrasting the hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship approach with other methods. The Reading also explains, step-by-step, how to formulate business model hypotheses, test them, and act on the test feedback. In the final section, the Reading considers what settings are best suited for hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship. The Reading also includes a section on special topics, a glossary of key terms, and suggestions for complimentary cases and further reading.

This Reading contains a video, related to how web start-ups can gather reliable data about demand or interest through crowdfunding, and an Interactive Illustration which helps to explain A/B testing as a way to test hypotheses. Review Questions and Exhibit Slides are available in the Supplemental Materials tab.

learning objective:

To describe the rationale for employing a hypothesis-driven approach to evaluating entrepreneurial opportunity and the processes used with such an approach.

Publication Date:

Discipline:

Source:

Product number:

Length:

Also Available in:

description

To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.

In early 2014, business development executives at Google were formulating a distribution strategy for Glass, a wearable computer that projected information on a display viewable with an upward glance. Options, which were not mutually exclusive, included 1) continuing to sell Glass directly through online channels; 2) creating an open platform to allow any eyewear manufacturer to create frames compatible with Glass; and 3) negotiating a partnership with a leading eyewear manufacturer to jointly develop and market Glass.

learning objective:

Explores the role of partnerships in launching new technology ventures. Demonstrates how hypotheses about the pattern of customer adoption for a new technology product can drive decisions about distribution strategy and partnership choices. Asks how to design a beta test in the context of a product requiring radical behavioral change.

*required field. You can change details at any time before activation.

The enrollment number will not limit students' access to materials. Accurate enrollment allows
us to manage site traffic and course activity.

If your course is affiliated with an institution not listed here or you need to create a course to last longer than 6 months,
please contact HBP Customer Service at custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu or 800-545-7685.

Type the information in each box. Boxes marked with an asterisk (*) are required information.
You can change the coursepack information, including the Start and Stop Dates and the quantity,
at any time before you activate the coursepack.

If your coursepack is affiliated with an institution not listed here or you need to create a coursepack
which is longer than 6 months, please contact HBP Customer Service at custserv@hbsp.harvard.edu
or 800-545-7685.